9. The disgusting festival of the Holi, celebrated with drunkenness
and obscenity, takes place in March, and is supposed to be the
festival of the vernal equinox (see _ante_, chapter 27 note 16). The
magistrates in India have no duty which requires more tact,
discretion, and firmness than the regulation of conflicting religions
processions. The general disarmament of the people has rendered
collisions less dangerous and sanguinary than they used to be, but,
in spite of all precautions, they still occur occasionally. The total
prohibition of processions likely to cause collisions is, of course,
impracticable.
10. Ante chapter 15 text at [9].
11. Muslim daughters also succeed, each taking half the share of a
son.
12. _Tempora mutantur_. The land revenue, in the author's time, fully
preserved its character of rent, and obviously was not a tax. Later
legislation has obscured its real nature, and made it look like a
tax. When the author wrote, the only taxes levied were indirect ones,
as that on salt, which was paid unconsciously. The modern income-tax,
local rates, municipal taxation, and gun licences were all unknown.
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